Noah’s Journey(44)
Bailey smirked back at Jackson, looking at him as if they had some secret bet. “And you said I would be the one that let the secret out.”
Amber snorted and then quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. She tried to rush from the room, but Ryan grabbed her around the waist, holding her in place. “Oh no you don’t.”
Amber’s eyes grew wide as she begged for me to help her, and in that moment she gave me away too. Noah engulfed me in his arms and chuckled against my temple. “Something is telling me our girls have been hiding some things from us all,” he added as he tickled my sides.
“So you did let it out.” Jackson smiled at Bailey, sharing her earlier excitement. The two of them had to have made some sort of bet about who would squeal first.
“I didn’t tell on purpose! It was a slip of the tongue. I was an emotional mess over the wedding gown, and I got caught up in the moment. It sort of slipped out and, well, those two saw right through me. It isn’t my fault they know me so well.” Bailey was getting flustered, which only caused us all to laugh a little more.
“You know what this means now, don’t you?” Jackson asked with a smirk.
“Yes, naked dinners for a week.” She said it so casually, as if she wasn’t in a room full of innocent bystanders and the mother of her fiancé.
We all watched in silence as she looked up and registered that we’d all just heard that. Her eyes grew wide, and she covered her face in horror.
“Aw, Bay, don’t worry,” Ryan said with a chuckle. “We all know you two can’t keep your clothes on, so naked dinners seem like a normal day between the two of you.”
Tammy wasted no more time. She closed the distance and took Jackson and Bailey into her arms. “Those naked escapades of yours have given me another grandbaby to love, so you won’t hear me lecturing. Just please, for the love of God, keep it on your side of the lake. There are just some things a mother should never witness.” Tammy’s body shook in laughter when Bailey once again groaned in horror.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Noah
“The girls are meeting us, right?” I asked as we pulled up in front of Roger’s.
Jackson had decided a night out as a group was better than two individual parties celebrating their last days before the wedding. So we settled on meeting at Roger’s Bar, one of our regular hangouts.
Ryan climbed out of his truck just as Jackson pulled up alongside my truck. “Yeah, they’re all at my place getting fixed up. They should be here within the hour,” he said.
Jackson waved, motioning to a couple guys he knew, and they started walking in our direction. I noticed Booker in the group and immediately hung my head with an annoyed groan. The guy was a jackass. He got under everyone’s skin.
“Just look at it this way, we’ll have someone to push around all night,” Ryan said quietly just as they joined us, and it made me chuckle. I guess there was one good thing about Booker showing up.
The bar was packed tonight. Some band from Billings was in town for the weekend, and Jackson thought seeing them play would add fun to our group night. Hell, I would have settled for a fire out on the ranch followed by a party of my own with Alena. But Jackson was the man of the hour, this was for him and Bailey, so I would grin and bear it.
“Well, would you look at that,” Ryan said in an irritated tone. “And she looks like she’s already had a few.”
I looked up just as Stacey stumbled into Booker and he wrapped his arms around her waist to steady her. She giggled and looked up at him with those seductive eyes of hers.
The love I had once felt toward Stacey had long faded, but the idea of that fuckwad having any involvement in my son’s life left a bad taste in my mouth.
“It would appear she’s sunk her claws into another willing soul,” Jackson added as the three of us watched the sick display of lust.
“Booker was always willing. She was the one that used to have standards.” I wrinkled my nose in disgust as he leaned forward and placed his lips against hers.
And with that, we all turned our backs and walked toward the bar. Stacey had told me her parents were keeping Austin tonight because she was going out with friends. But I guess those so-called friends were either an excuse she fed her parents or they were now an afterthought.
“Just let it ride. You know it ain’t gonna last,” Ryan said as he stepped up to the bar beside me. “He’ll be moving on by this time next week to another lonely girl.”
“I don’t give a shit if they screw around or not. I just don’t want his fucked-up shit anywhere near Austin.” I looked back over my shoulder when the two of them stumbled toward the bar all wrapped around one another. Apparently she had no fucking class anymore, either.